Does anyone have any information on a 50 foot, 50 ton Brex Steel Reefer? It’s unusual in the fact that it has two doors on each side of the car…one in the middle and the other on the far left. It also has 8 ice hatches on the roof instead of the 4 I’ve seen normally. I know it’s from at least the 1940’s if not earlier. “Brex” might be a shipping company similiar to FGE or PFE but the internet has not yielded much on this…it’s only a hunch on my part.
I’d love to know a little background of the car and which lines used it. Thanks…
According to the National Railroad Historical Society’s reporting marks page BREX was Burlington Refrigerator Express Company (probably a subsidiary of CBQ) from April 1938 to April 1970 then Western Fruit Express Company from January 1975 to January 1980.
PFE had a similar car, PFE 100036 (class R-50-1-2). It had its ice compartment above the load compartment (instead of in the ends), There were two load compartments, each with a door. The doors appear to be centered in each compartment. The information can be found on page 148 of Pacific Fruit Express, 2nd Edition. There are three photographs of it on page 149. Obviously these are not made by the same builder, but they may have some similarities. It had wood sides and steel ends. It was rebuilt from an R-50-1 (built around 1930) in March 1940 and was retired by 1944.
Eric’s correct about the history of the reporting mark. BREX was affiliated with CB&Q until the BN merger. At that point, the companies all took on the Western Fruit Express name (after GN’s affiliate). All of these companies were somehow connected with Fruit Growers Express (I think FGE built a lot of the BREX and WFEX non-mechanical cars).
Brine-tank reefers (with bunkers all along the roof instead of just at the ends) were rarer than standard ice-bunker cars, but a lot of companies used them.
That two-door reefer sounds curious. In a book The Great Yellow Fleet by John H. White, there’s a picture of BREX 117. It’s an eraly mechanical reefer with a small sliding door (louvered) at the end to cover the engine compartment. I can’t help but wonder if that’s what you’re referring to. Eric, I’ll have to look for that reefer in the PFE book (I have the first edition, not the second).
Thanks guys…at least this narrows it down a bit. I thought the fact it was a 50 foot reefer was strange to. Never thought to think of it as an express reefer…
I do not know if it was an express reefer. Don’t confuse express being in the company name with it being an express reefer. There were some 50 foot 50 ton reefers, although they were not very common. PFE’s R-50-1s were 47’ 11-3/8" long with2349 cubic foot capacity. They were nicknamed “Giants” and were designed to carry “Barreled loads (for example wine), preserved fruit, cured fish, and nursery stock” (PFE, 2nd Ed. page 119). Carl, did the first edition have any photos?